Beijing underground homes: migrants in pipes and tunnels, rents out of reach Pequin By Luís Henrique Costa
3 min read
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Migrant workers and low-income residents in Beijing are moving into maintenance wells, heating tunnels and disused underground galleries. Rising property prices in China’s capital leave them little choice, since regular housing takes up most of what migrant labor earns.
They are known socially as the “rat tribe”, a label applied to workers drawn to jobs in large urban centers. Many cut daily living costs to the bone so they can send money to family in distant provinces.
Heating pipes and low ceilings inside the shelters
Heating pipes that warm the ground through the harsh northern winters run through many of these wells and ducts. In many spots the ducts keep the air artificially warm, but they expose occupants to burns from high-pressure steam leaks.
Each gallery covers only a few square meters, and the ceiling is too low for anyone to stand. Improvised beds made of old blankets share the space with exposed electrical wires, small stoves and containers for drinking water collected from public toilets nearby.
The absence of windows, sanitation and proper ventilation leads to moisture buildup, toxic fumes and constant flood risk during heavy rains. Residents enter through heavy manhole covers, lifted quietly at night to avoid complaints from neighbors.
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Size, hazards and cost of a bed underground
- Type of space: inspection wells for urban heating, disused stormwater galleries and converted air raid shelters
- Average size: between 2 and 6 square meters, with ceilings often under 1.5 meters high
- Main hazards: carbon monoxide inhalation, burns from hot steam pipes and suffocation
- Cost: free in public wells, or a token fee paid to illegal intermediaries in basements
Hukou registration keeps migrants out of public housing
The migration of millions of people from rural areas to large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai runs into the hukou system, a household registration system in force since the 1950s. The rural classification it assigns blocks equal access to subsidized housing, public schools for children and full health care in cities where a person has no urban birth registration.
Without permission to apply for social housing from the municipal government, informal workers take jobs with limited pay. Their average monthly earnings are far too low to rent a standard apartment or a regular studio in central districts.
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Beijing authorities have closed dozens of gallery entrances and welded manhole covers during fire safety inspections and urban order drives. Many evicted residents moved to distant outlying neighborhoods, or looked for new clandestine openings in pipes that remained reachable.
From Cold War bunkers to recent crackdowns
- 1960s and 1970s: mass construction of underground air raid shelters during the Cold War
- 1980s and 1990s: underground space released for civil storage, warehouses and cheap temporary housing
- Early 21st century: rapid property price growth in Beijing and a large influx of rural workers without local hukou
- Recent years: intensified state campaigns to clear informal housing below street level
Pressure from the property market in big cities strains municipal governance, which must balance urban growth against constant demand for labor in construction, cleaning and fast deliveries. Without affordable public housing near job centers, the cracks in the city’s infrastructure remain the last option for the most vulnerable groups.
